Three federal agencies announced agreements with the nation's largest mortgage servicers Wednesday that aim to stem shoddy foreclosure practices. But the plans do not immediately impose financial penalties on the companies or force them to reduce the mortgage debt for troubled borrowers.Look, it's simple. When the regulators work for the regulated - or at least plan to do so in their next career cycle - public choice theory makes it unlikely that those of us on the outside are going to get much out of the arrangement.
The deals require the mortgage servicers to identify and compensate borrowers who suffered financial harm, but the details have not yet been decided. The companies must also provide a single point of contact for struggling borrowers, many of whom complain of getting the runaround when they try to get help. Servicers also would not be able to foreclose on borrowers after granting them a loan modification.
"I guess my biggest failure was not getting reelected," he said in an interview with Big Think, referring to the 1980 presidential election.When his minion Warren Christopher shined his shoes and explained
Carter, 86, said the loss taught him "not to ever let American hostages be held for 444 days in a foreign country without extracting them." He added, "I did the best I could, but I failed."
Not "maybe we wouldn't be looking down the barrel of a major confrontation with state-supported Islamist radicals." Not "maybe 9/11 wouldn't have happened, and tens of thousands of people wouldn't have died." Not any number of other things involving the United States and our relations with the rest of the world. Ronald effing Reagan's election is as bad a thing as he can imagine.If you wonder why some people (not me) want Palin for President, think about what it means that these clowns are the height of Washington respectability.
I can't imagine a more insular view of things. And I'm terrified that one of the actual people who shaped events can't see past the mirrored window of his political party.
You simply couldn't make this up. I give you Helen Thomas, acknowledged Dean of the White House press corps, at a White House Jewish Heritage Celebration:
And the thing is, it's not really surprising. Just someone who chose to say out loud the logical endpoint of Islamo-leftist opinion about Israel, and the way many on the left feel.
Back to Poland and Germany. Just let that sink in for a second.
Of course, Helen Thomas issued a statement later:
"The biology professor at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge gives brief quizzes at the beginning of every class, to assure attendance and to make sure students are doing the reading. On her tests, she doesn't use a curve, as she believes that students must achieve mastery of the subject matter, not just achieve more mastery than the worst students in the course. For multiple choice questions, she gives 10 possible answers, not the expected 4, as she doesn't want students to get very far with guessing."
So, the response by LSU?
LSU removed her from teaching, mid-semester, without prior notice or discussion, and raised the grades of students in the class. Inside higher Ed notes, with some understatement, that LSU's administration has set off a debate about grade inflation, due process and a professor's right to set standards in her own course. Read the article, and see what each side has to say.
My response? This is exactly why large portions, very possibly even majorities, of the students in critical science-related subjects that will define America's future, are from other countries. And why aerosapce firms locate in Mississippi, and Louisiana's naval shipyard might well vanish (to the benefit of the US Navy).
University administrators can often be a waste of skin - but some of them abuse the privilege. The answers from her Test #2 bonus question say more about why these guys are HUYA than I could.
Lawyers for the father of a Marine from Maryland who died in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters say a court has ordered him to pay the protesters' appeal costs.I'm floored by the workings of the legal system, and floored again that the newspaper actually published the link to the site where the family can take donations.
Lawyers for Albert Snyder of York, Pa., also say he is struggling to come up with fees associated with filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court agreed earlier this month to consider whether the protesters' message is protected by the First Amendment or limited by the competing privacy and religious rights of the mourners.
On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered that Snyder pay costs associated with the Fred Phelps' appeal. Phelps is the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, which conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral in 2006 in Westminster.
CLICK HERE to learn more about The Al Snyder Fund.
More "Led by the Stupid and Loathsome," I'm afraid. Seems that Gita Sahgal led Amnesty International's gender-affairs unit until very recently. When she was recruited, she was up front about needing to fix a very troubling connection for Amnesty: Moazzam Begg, a a British citizen who was captured in Pakistan in 2001 and known as "Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban."
Begg still believes in the Taliban's ideals, you see, and he and his organization continue to defend them, and to promote a global Islamic Caliphate. Amnesty International was happy to make him a minor celebrity and endorse him, because he was incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay from 2001-2005. The fact that he also supports treating women like animals, preaching hatred against other religions, etc., and still says that the Taliban's corpse filled rule was the best thing that happened to Afghanistan.... well, that bothered Ms. Sahgal. Amnesty International? They didn't really give a ---.
So, not realizing that torture, executions, and the denial of people's rights because they were born female are OK if endorsed by an Amnesty-approved source, longtime Amnesty employee Ms. Saghal told a reporter from the London Times that she thought the link to Begg tainted Amnesty.
Clearly, something had to be done about this, and done right now.
